Protecting Bella
by Ember Sage
Summary: This is a one-shot of Edward's POV during Bella's disaster birthday party. Sorry, I stink at summaries. This is also a companion story to one of my other one-shots, A Monster?, which is Jasper's POV during that whole time. Please R&R!


I am not Stephenie Meyer, and I don't own Twilight or any of its plots or characters.

I tried to make this scene relatively similar to the one of New Moon. Everything is about the same except for some of the context.

EPOV

I watched Bella as she stuck her pointer finger under the paper, with the intent of tearing it open. My smug pleasure quickly turned to horror as I heard the most indistinct sound I had ever heard, the muted sound of tearing flesh. The skimming of the paper against her skin.

"Shoot," she muttered.

I groaned inwardly. Only my Bella could be fatally threatened by a paper cut. I could smell her blood as a single drop trickled from the wound. When this happened all I could think of was, "I have to save her, from my own brother."

I shouted, "No!" I threw myself at her, trying to form a shield around her.

We slid across the decoration ridden table. I could hear the thoughts of horror from my family. Their shock was similar to my own. The sound of shattering crystal and scraping glass filled my ears with a horrible screeching. We landed in the mess on the floor at the opposite end of the dining table. Bella was close to limp under my protective position. She was still conscious, but barely, but she was dazed and disoriented. I felt a body slam into me not a second later. Jasper.

I kept my position protective over Bella, defensively snarling at him. His eyes were dark. I could tell this wasn't Jasper, my brother, my sister's husband, my friend. This was a monster, wakened from deep inside himself, wakened by the smell of blood. It was close to irresistible to this monster. This monster was far from reason. Very far from it. He growled offensively, trying to make his way past to me, to reach his prey. I was a hardened stone wall. He would not reach Bella. Over my dismembered self he would. I would protect her until I was a pile of ashes.

Just then I felt the pressure of his attacks lifted. Emmett was pulling him back away from Bella and me. Jasper twisted around in protest at this new distraction. He was still far from the Jasper I knew, far from reason. Rosalie was standing in front of Jasper, helping her husband to take him outside.

She was smug, thinking, "This was inevitable. This was going to happen at some point."

I growled in her direction. She chose to ignore me. They were soon outside. The rest of my family started rushing around. Either they started cleaning up or in Carlisle's situation gathering tools to tend to Bella. Soon after Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper left, I heard a horrified voice return to my head.

"What have I done?" Jasper wondered, horrified and ashamed of himself.

He began to run. Emmett and Rose let him leave, the danger had passed. Esme left next.

She thought to me, "Edward, I'm so sorry. I hope Bella will be okay. Of course she will, under Carlisle's care, and with Edward by her side. Of course she will. Poor Bella. Poor Edward. Poor Jasper. I feel so bad I have to leave, but I don't wish to put her in any more danger."

She smiled apologetically at me as she slid open the door and exited into the night. Carlisle approached with his medical bag. "Let me by, Edward," he said gently. I hesitated slightly before moving out of his way. I was not breathing. I hadn't been this whole time. Luckily it didn't matter, I didn't need to. He began to examine the wound. Alice handed him a towel, and then she glanced at me.

"Edward," she warned silently, "You should go outside."

"No," I growled at her, quietly, so Bella couldn't hear, careful not to take a breath.

We decided to move her to the kitchen table. I could see the shock and the pain clearly displayed on her face. She looked up at me, concerned.

"Edward, you don't have to be the hero, get some fresh air, I'll be okay."

I stood stock still, unwilling to leave her side.

Then Carlisle spoke, "Edward you might as well go find Jasper before he gets too far, I'm sure he's unhappy with himself right now."

I sighed. I gave in. Leaving probably was a good idea. I didn't want to put her in any more danger than she was already in. Alice glanced at Bella, silently apologizing, before following me out the glass doors. I knew Bella would be fine in Carlisle's hands. He was after all one of the best doctors in the world. Once we were outside I turned to Alice.

"Do you have any idea where he is?" I asked her.

She held up one finger, signaling for me to wait. Her eyes glazed over. I focused on her mind and entered her vision. Jasper was sitting on a tree stump, head in his hands. I could see a sign in the background, barely distinguishable through the dense forest and foliage. He was close to Canada, just before the border line. Then the vision was over, and we were once again in the present. I was just about to take off when Alice stopped me.

"Edward," she thought, "on second thought, maybe I should go, he is my husband after all."

I nodded my head slightly in agreement.

She turned to leave when I said, "Alice, could you tell him Bella and I aren't mad at him, he should come home."

She nodded and turned around to go and find her husband, to comfort him. I was alone. I could her Emmett and Rose in the background, conversing quietly. I could hear Esme reenter the house and go and find the broom to begin picking up the mess. I could hear the sound of footfalls of Alice racing into the distance. I could also hear the voice of my beloved, conversing with Carlisle, talking of his past and his beliefs. I could hear my family. I could hear Bella. I could never bear if anything happened to her. Surely being with me was not worth the sacrifice? She would be much better off if I had never existed. If we had never fallen in love…. I didn't finish that thought, but I did make a decision. I had to leave her, to protect her. If she died, I wouldn't be able to survive. She was in too much danger being with me. I needed to leave to protect her. I could her voice, cutting through the silence, her beautiful voice. Yes, I thought, I have to leave, to protect her….

This is my fourth ever fanfiction, is it any good? I had a couple requests to do this scene, and I hope it was written to those users expectations. Is it any good? I really enjoy receiving constructive criticism, or any reviews really, even if you like it or you don't. Thank you all to whoever is reading this by the way. This story goes along with my other fanfiction one-shot, A Monster? That one is Jasper's POV about this whole predicament. I don't know if either of these is any good, so that's why I depend on your guys' reviews! I would really love to hear improvements I could make to this story, or any of my other fanfictions, or if you guys have any suggestions for future fanfictions I could write. That would be so great! One review really makes my day, so go ahead, and go crazy clicking the blueish purplish review button. Thank you for R&R!

-Ember


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